First Impressions
by Shiy
Summary: Zhou Yu and the people who knew him.


**Title:** First Impressions  
**Disclaimer:** DW, RTK and any variety of versions are not mine and no profit is being made...  
**Summary:** Zhou Yu and the people who knew him.  
**Started:** 13 March 06  
**Last Modified:** 14 April 06  
**Notes: **If any part of this story confuses you or you'd like to know more about the background information that made up this story, please visit my listed homepage and read the post titled"Explanation-accompaniment for "First Impressions".

He was family.

They had him call him "brother", and he did so obediently. He even believed he was indeed another of his brothers, for, in the beginning, he saw him just as often, welcomed and loved in his home, even if he spent almost all his time with Big Brother and was nothing like the rest of his brothers. He liked this new brother.

He was family to him in the way Mother was, pretty and gentle, and always with a ready smile for him, but it was a different smile from the one she would give his sister; like how she was his family, but she was Sister's family first.

---

He was the sworn brother of their young lord; their new comrade.

More than the soldiers, horses and other resources the boy had brought with him and contributed to their force, he was grateful for the changes he induced in their leader, who had went out personally to receive the arrival of his bosom friend with unconcealed delight, something he had not seen since Sun Jian's untimely death. At nights, raucous laughter would sound from the leader's tent, where two shadows can be seen conferencing over some wine and food. He had been struck, at the first occurrence, by the reminder of how young their leader really was, and how much it sounded like his late lord, in a scenario not so different, not so long ago.

While no one could accuse Sun Ce of ever appearing uncertain of himself since he took leave of Yuan Shu, the arrival of Zhou Gongjin had seemed to set him aglow with a new confidence, as if something missing from his vision of establishing himself had finally come to him. They soon saw why, as Zhou Yu rode into battle beside their lord, scoring victory after victory; as he proposed strategists in battle councils that granted them efficient victories; as he recommended new talents that inevitably became invaluable part of their force. His levelheaded calmness was the very complement of their lord's impetuous passion that had led them so far, and he realized the newly-found balance was only going to bring them even higher.

It was difficult to believe this of the young lad that had appeared before them not so long ago, looking as if he should be donning scholar robes instead of heavy armour, his eyes no less bright with emotions than the person before him, even as he did nothing but returned the grasp of their lord wordlessly, and smiled humbly and almost shyly at the lord's overjoyed declaration.

"_With Gongjin's help I'm sure to succeed_!

---

He was an enemy.

_The advices turned into fervent protests once Sun Ce made his declaration, which the Little Conqueror disregarded with a raised hand. Accordingly, the tent fell into a hush._

_"General, you are the military strategist as well as sworn brother of our lord. Will you not advice the lord now?" One of the officers whispered an appeal to a young man clad in armor seated on the right of the seat Sun Ce had vacated. If the Little Conqueror heard them as well, he gave no indication._

_He knew who he was. He recognized him from the time he arrived on the site of their duel with reinforcements, effectively empowering the outnumbered Sun Ce. He knew him as the man who had attacked and took his lord's home city on the sly while Sun Ce had faced him and his lord's army. He knew him as the man who had devised the trap that had gotten him captured while Sun Ce had pursued him from behind._

_Like an ominous shadow to the Conqueror's blinding light._

_Indeed, if someone had to break the silence enforced by their lord now it had to be Zhou Yu, whose only response to the appeal was to level an appraising gaze in their direction while the buzz of hushed protests continued amongst the rest._

_He returned the gaze levelly, even as he wondered if it was directed at him, or the leader standing before him with his back to his strategist._

_"It is the lord's decision to make." He proclaimed eventually, distinctly, his strong voice a stark contrast against the surrounding murmurs. "As his vassals, we must have faith in his judgment." The implied accusation of Sun Ce's misjudgment was rebuked with no hints of subtlety whatsoever._

_As the buzz died away for good this time, he watched the man before him grinned, slowly, as if an echo to the vague smile a distance behind him._

"Did you believe, too, that I would return?"

He was not surprised, not really, that the man understood his abrupt question. Not after half a year of fighting on the same side of the battlefield.

Languidly, Zhou Yu lifted his eyes to him for just a moment, graceful fingers continuing to pluck at the strings of the zither before him as if he hadn't just been disrupted.

"I do not think anyone in the tent then had our lord's confidence."

His words were as soft and lazy as the notes he was currently playing. If it weren't for the small smile playing on his lips, he would have seemed aloof. As it were, he wondered if they all had a little too much to drink. Maybe he should stop attending these little parties their lord liked to hold.

He glanced at the last man in the tent, who had lain on his back since some time ago, head placed on clasped hands acting as a pillow and eyes closed. He wondered if he had fallen asleep at some point—it wouldn't be the first time. He wondered if Zhou Yu knew. He thought it didn't matter.

"If you had your doubts," he would just assume his riddle-like answer translated to 'no', "Why had you not stopped him?"

The lazy smile widened slightly, into something more mirthful. "Brother Ziyi. You sound just like General Zhang." His tone turned a little more serious as he continued. "Did you believe, too, that I could have stopped him?"

"... Are you suggesting that you can't?"

The younger man's smile was now cryptic, and it was a while before he spoke again.

"If tigers could be leashed..."

_They would be tigers no more._

There was nothing but the sound of the zither as he mused over that for a moment. He was used to intelligent people speaking in riddles, but it didn't mean he liked it.

"And if he had made a wrong judgment that day... if he had judged me wrongly--"

Zhou Yu's eyes met his for the second time since their conversation, and he could see that the amber depths didn't look intoxicated at all even as his less than usual behavior suggested otherwise.

"It is the rulers' privilege and warriors' choice to gamble. Strategists cannot afford, nor are predisposed, to gambling."

He supposed he knew it all along, but had not needed to think so far as Sun Ce's sincerity and character had been enough to warrant his surrender, and he had been as sincere in his promise to return with soldiers to his service. But no one besides himself knew that, so it was natural that everyone doubted, except one who trusted and took the gamble. And another...

He recalled that day, and the seated young man, who, even as he prompted the men to trust their lord, did not in fact fully share in his confidence.

_If the tiger couldn't be leashed,_

It is not unlike the time he relieved Sun Ce of danger when the young leader landed himself in the midst of enemy forces, isolated from his soldiers but for a handful of escorts.

_He would just make sure to cover his tracks._

Indeed, as the image of that day remained in his mind, he saw the quiet confidence in the young man, if not entirely in his lord's judgment, then in his own ability.

Strategists do not gamble. Strategists plan. And he had been planning his defeat from the time Sun Ce agreed to let him leave. Or was it sooner?

Taishi Ci laughed and raised his goblet in a toast as the melody unknown to him appears to draw to a close, oddly reassured by his answers even as they implied he had distrusted him.

Surely, with someone like Zhou Yu by his side, Sun Ce was bound to succeed.

---

He was the one man entrusted with Wu's external affairs.

_The atmosphere seemed to change with his arrival. Even as he quietly stepped foot into the court, the sound of murmurs started to intensify. He paused every so often as a number of officers, civil and military alike, went up to greet him and exchanged a few words, until he made his way to the front and settled in amongst the ranks of Wu's highest-ranked officers. His smile vanished as he stood to attention and it seemed to signal the end of frivolous greetings as everyone else followed suit._

_He had no doubt in his mind as to who this was. There were only so many officers who could warrant such attention._

_It was only further confirmed when their lord, after the initial formalities, extended a warm welcome to the return of Zhou Gongjin._

It had been like that each time the renowned commander made his occasional return to court from his many duties in the lands of Wu, but none had been as intense as the one four years later. The lord had summoned him. Only he had returned even before the message had reached.

Cao Cao was attacking.

_The civil officers who pushed for surrender were flabbergasted and subsequently subdued into silence when their lord reinforced the finality of his decision with a warning to punish any who advocated surrender again._

_All eyes were on the commander standing before the lord, who had resolved their lord's indecision in not even a day after his return with a well-delivered argument. Some were in appreciation, some in awe, some in suspicion, and even some in betrayal. Why, he had no idea. As he studied the resolute profile before him, it only confirmed his prediction._

_Zhou Gongjin had never considered surrendering Wu to anybody._

_The finality of that fact struck him then. And he was inexplicably reminded of someone else he had never met, but knew from his reputation alone that he would never have agreed to surrender, either._

_It was then that he realized, really realized, the reason the Zhou Yu had been decreed as the authority over external affairs._

_The founding leader of Wu has passed on, but his will lived on._


End file.
